James Douglas Mickle, Jr. died on June 8, 2022, surrounded by his family and his dogs, at Christus St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The cause was acute respiratory failure caused by pulmonary emboli following hip surgery after a fall. Jim had been under treatment for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus for months. Jim was born on February 1, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a senior at Springfield High (Montco), he set the Pennsylvania state record for most consecutive foul shots without a miss when he went 17 for 17 from the foul line in a 1966 game against North Penn. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1971 and received his MD from Hershey Medical School at Pennsylvania State University in 1975. After an internship at Chestnut Hill Hospital, he served two years in the National Health Service Corp in Foxburg before moving to Boyertown where he was a family practitioner for 34 years. There he loved working with a dedicated staff to care for patients at every stage of life. He happily drove down country roads on house calls, accepted farm produce as payment, and, in an emergency, would suture an injury in his living room. He coached his daughter’s AAU basketball team and established the Barn Ball tournament in his eighteenth-century barn in Douglassville. His interests in sports and medicine culminated in a stint as ringside doctor for the Philly-based World Wide Wrestling Alliance, which frequently performed at Zern’s Market. Jim relished taking care of the wrestlers and occasionally being worked into the show. Ever intellectually curious, Jim became interested in the science of cholesterol after years of seeing patients whose health status did not match up in an obvious way with their basic cholesterol numbers. After several years of study, he became a board-certified Lipidologist, and in 2011 he opened Cholesterol Studies and Treatment, a practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cholesterol-related illness. Jim’s interest in cholesterol led him to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Early in his investigations, he realized the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids for some patients. In the 1990’s, he could not find a commercial fish oil capsule with his ideal therapeutic balance until Ocean Nutrition, of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia agreed to formulate it for him. He eventually travelled to Dartmouth to meet their research staff, and then to Mulgrave to tour their plant. Just over the causeway was Cape Breton Island, which he fell in love with, eventually building a cottage in Mabou Harbour, where he was as happy as a person can be. Jim loved being a doctor, and practiced medicine until the last year of his life. He would answer medical questions from anyone at any time and help whenever needed, including as volunteer on September 11, 2001, when he jumped from a mid-town Manhattan cardiology conference to a triage station at Chelsea Piers. Jim told good stories about booking musical groups such as the Byrds and the Fifth Dimension and speakers such as Muhammed Ali for Muhlenberg in the late sixties when he was a student organizer. He got clean for Gene, went door-to-door for McGovern, marched in Washington against the invasion of Iraq, and as a physician and citizen supported reproductive choice and Medicare for All. Jim loved archaeology, fly-fishing, Cape Breton fiddle music (he died listening to the Natalie MacMaster/Donnell Leahy version of “Hector the Hero”), and visiting his children on the sets of their film and television projects and at their screenings and film festivals. He is credited in his son Jim’s movies as actor, extra, and medical consultant. Jim is survived by his wife Cynthia Baughman, son Jim Mickle (Linda Moran), daughter Beth Mickle (Russell Barnes), ex-wife and mother of his children, Carole Bianco, brother-in-law Jack Hornberger, niece Nancy Bragger (John), nephew Brant Hornberger (Meghan), beloved great-nieces and -nephews, cousins, and many cherished friends and colleagues. He was predeceased by his parents, Nan and Doug Mickle, sister Jane Ann Hornberger, niece Debbie Hornberger and great-nephew Sam Hornberger. Jim has been cremated and memorial plans will be announced later. If you wish, memorial contributions may be made to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society, Humane Pennsylvania, the Mabou Gaelic and Historical Society, or a charity of your choice. Or just listen to “Hector the Hero” and think of Jim.
Published by Reading Eagle from Jul. 22 to Jul. 23, 2022.
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